Children in Care: Disabled

(asked on 18th February 2022) - View Source

Question to the Department for Education:

To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of access for (a) parents and (b) guardians of people with disabilities to specialist advice on section 20 voluntary arrangements.


Answered by
Will Quince Portrait
Will Quince
This question was answered on 28th February 2022

The responsibility to assess the needs of a looked after child and to support the family rests with the local authority. If children have to live apart from their family, both they and their parents/guardians should be given adequate information and helped to consider alternatives and contribute to the making of an informed choice about the most appropriate form of care.

The care plan for all looked after children, including children accommodated under a voluntary arrangement, will reflect a multi-agency contribution to ensure that the full range of a child’s developmental needs are identified and addressed to improve their outcomes.

We are providing over £42 million in the 2021/22 financial year to continue funding projects to support children with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). This includes £27.3 million to the Family Fund in 2021/22 to support over 60,000 families on low incomes raising children and young people with disabilities or serious illnesses. It also includes £8.6 million to support the effective involvement of parent carers and young people in designing SEND policies and services.

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